Hello! First of all, sorry if I’m repeating a lot of the mistakes noobs are making, but I can assure you I have tried to read all documentation that’s out there…
I’m attaching a pic of the quad I’ve put together, but I’ll also list a few components here:
FC is a JHEMCU GHF745AIO (I’ve ported Ardupilot, basically set up the config and compiled it, no biggie). I have some IOT experience and creating the build wasn’t difficult. I cannot find anything wrong with the parameters (maybe I’m wrong). Yes, yes, I’ve hit a deadly combination - ardupilot beginner and using a new board.
1404 5500 KV motors (Xing something)
HQprop 3x2.5x3 props
Walksnail GPS (the one with the compass)
I’ve mounted the camera but I’ve not connected the cable (for weight purposes), I’ll do this last
3S battery using 3 18650 cells
3D printed frame (PA CF, it’s pretty sturdy)
The problem is that it’s extremely unstable when lifting off in Stabilize, to the point it’s almost impossible to keep it steady. AltHold is impossible by itself, if I try to lift it a bit more, it just flips upside down immediately. And it seems way too … powerful? A small change in controls makes it react way too much. Should I reduce the sensitivity in the TX so pitch and roll are slower?
I’ve checked the motors order and prop direction 100 times, it’s fine when I’m running the motor test in Mission Planner. I’ve run the Setup steps a lot of times and I’ve even tried using MethodicConfigurator to no avail. I’ve also tried balancing it as well as I could. I’ve held the drone in my hand and cranked the motors then spun it a bit, the props seem to react fine while it tries to level.
"The things I’m noticing:
the arrow on my receiver’s telemetry - Yaapu - (is this the compass?) is moving in the opposite direction when I rotate the drone (yaw).
after flying it for a few seconds a few cms above ground, I get some errors: Compass variance and something about mag that I can’t find where I’ve noted it.
I’ve tried analyzing the logfiles and it’s really difficult. 1, I don’t know exactly what I’m looking at and 2, the Mono font scaling on Linux is horrible. My eyes hurt trying to read Mission Planner’s tiny font.
The GPS doesn’t have position yet so that will be part of the problem. Enable the geofence will prevent take-off before that is setup. Make sure you set up all your failsafes before you try to fly. These initial tests are when you need them the most.
I question if that frame is really going to be stiff enough. especially with that camera hanging out in the front. That will cause some big issues in tuning.
You have some default PID’s that will not fly well on that size craft. And oddly there is no barometer in the log file.
Just use The Configurator as @Allister suggested.
@Allister I only enabled part of the arming checks as I’m trying to first test the copter inside the house. I’m plugging it in and out of the PC all the time. So I don’t have a GPS lock all the time. I was under the impression I didn’t need GPS lock for Stabilize or AltHold modes.
@dkemxr I don’t see the Barometer in the HW ID section of Mission Planner either. Can that be part of the cause?
I’m going through the MethodicConfigurator you linked again.
I went through the configuration again to no avail.
I tried AltHold again and the drone flipped upside down after a couple of seconds. There must be a sensor issue I’m not seeing…
And same thing in Stabilized. Flying fine for a few seconds above ground (although if I let go pitch/yaw it goes hard in another direction) and then it went belly up all of the sudden and instantly.
I looked at your .zip file. Almost all parameters have their default value and/or are set incorrectly.
I can also clearly see that you did not use the software to configure the vehicle step-by-step and instead simply jumped to step 41_barometer_compensation.param.
It makes it hard to help you if you can not follow simple instructions.
